Not much new to report this morning which means you will get whatever I can come up with in the next couple of hours. The Americans will be back at practice today after a couple of days off to heal the bumps and bruises from opening weekend. I will attend practice and hopefully have some updates tomorrow.
- Availability for the home opener on Saturday remains a question mark. Allen currently has 21 players on the roster and a maximum of 19 can dress for each game. It is almost certain (understatement) that Mikael Robidoux and Spencer Asuchak will be out this weekend. Marcel Godbout and Stephen Baylis did not make the road trip over the weekend because of injuries. Godbout was skating last week wearing the no contact jersey and coach Costello has said he should be ready for the home opener. Not sure on the status of Baylis. If Baylis isn't available the Americans would have 18 players for Saturday. However, playing all 18 may create a salary cap issue because Robidoux has to stay on the active roster and his salary counts toward the salary cap.
- According to my reporting the hearing for Mikael Robidoux with the ECHL office takes place today. The Commissioner's decision on the length of his suspension should not take long. It would be great if the league would also comment on changes they would like to see implemented in arenas to protect the safety of visiting players.
- Defenseman Colton Saucerman is off to a great start with four points (2G, 2A) in two games. He leads the ECHL in scoring by a defenseman. His 2.00 points per game average got me thinking about what former Allen defensemen have the best points per game average during their time in Allen. It is a who's who of former players dating all the way back to the first season in 2009-10. Here the top 10 best career points per game average by Allen defensemen (minimum 100 games played).
- .86 - Les Lancaster (2019-21)
- .82 - Alex Breton (2018-20)
- .78 - David Makowski (2015-19)
- .70 - Tyler Ludwig (2011-15)
- .66 - Matt Register (2011-21)
- .62 - Eric Roy (2015-22)
- .60 - Joel Chouinard (2016-19)
- .60 - Phil Beaulieu (2020-22)
- .59 - Aaron Gens (2014-17)
- .50 - Eric Adams (2009-1012)
- There has been a lot of discussion about the help provided by Allen's affiliate (Ottawa/Belleville). The facts show there has not been much help thus far. Allen has just one assigned player (Logan Flodell) which is the fewest in the league. By my count 18 of 28 ECHL teams have five or more assigned players. The lack of assigned players says nothing about the relationship between Allen and Ottawa/Belleville. There has been constant communication between Chad Costello, Belleville coach, Troy Mann and general manager, Ryan Bowness. The reason players haven't been assigned is Ottawa and Belleville have been hit with a lot of injuries. If you watched Ottawa beat Dallas last night you heard about some of the injuries. The Senators top two goalies are injured and they started Magnus Hellberg, who prior to last night had five NHL starts for four different teams over his 11 year pro career. Yesterday Iowa loaned forward Matthew Boucher, (2020-21 ECHL Rookie of the Year) to Belleville. Coach Costello is confident he will get additional players assigned as injured players return.
- It is a very small sample size, but four ECHL teams are in the top seven in both average goals scored and average goals allowed after opening weekend. (Cincinnati, Newfoundland, South Carolina, Toledo). This is a great indicator of success. Last season, three of the final four teams in the Kelly Cup playoffs including the final two finished in the top seven in the ECHL in goals scored and allowed.
- Rookies Liam Finlay (4 points) and Hank Crone (3 points) look like they could be big scorers for the Americans this season. The last rookies to lead the team in scoring were Tyler Sheehy (2019-20) and Alex Lavoie (2013-14). FYI, the top three rookies in the ECHL right now have five points an all play for South Carolina.
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